A creative dumping ground for issues that interest me personally and professionally, with the thought they may interest you too. Issues such as the business of design, the design of business, the design of objects, design strategy, creative direction, innovation, creativity, thought leadership, observations, as well as recommendations, mid-century modern decorative arts and architecture, and the state of my thinking (and currently the state of my heart).

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Thoughts on Design

“Tell me what and I'll show you how." —Barry A. Smith, Recently

“Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.” —Tom Peters, 2003

“I simply believe that design, per se, is the principal reason for emotional attachment (or detachment!) relative to a product or service or experience or brand proposition. Design, as I see it, is arguably the number one determinant of whether a product-service-experience brand proposition stands out ... or doesn’t; has integrity... or doesn’t; connects ... or doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s ‘one of those things’ that few companies put – consistently – on the front burner.” —Tom Peters, 2004

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” —Steve Jobs, 2003

“Design is hugely underrated as a strategic tool. Design is the essence of emotional attachment to a product or service or experience... and therefore the wellspring of the corporate culture (or ‘soul’) and of the brand proposition itself.” —Tom Peters, 2004

“Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability — they should go hand in hand.” —Donald Norman, 2003

“The perfection of art is to conceal art.” —Quintilian, 95

“We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.” —John Ruskin, 1880

“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose” —Charles Eames

“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master” —Milton Glaser

“Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.” —Ivan Chermayeff

“Design is the art of gradually applying constraints until only one solution remains.” —Unknown

“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”—Bertrand Russell

“[Leonardo Da Vinci] combined art and science and aesthetics and engineering, that kind of unity is needed once again.” —Ben Shneiderman, 2002“True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication.”—Ed Scholssberg, 2002

“To dismiss front-end design as mere ‘icing’ is to jeopardize the success of any site.” —Curt Cloninger, 2001

“Good designers can create normalcy out of chaos; they can clearly communicate ideas through the organizing and manipulating of words and pictures.” —Jeffery Veen, 2000

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” —Hans Hofmann

“Visual appearance is one of the most effective variables for quickly differentiating one application from another.” —Bob Baxley, 2003

“I’ve been amazed at how often those outside the discipline of design assume that what designers do is decoration. Good design is problem solving.” —Jeffery Veen, 2000

“Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion.” —Bob Baxley, 2003

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A creative dumping ground for issues that interest me personally and professionally, with the thought they may interest you too. Issues such as the business of design, the design of business, the design of objects, design strategy, creative direction, innovation, creativity, thought leadership, observations, as well as recommendations, mid-century modern decorative arts and architecture, and the state of my thinking (and currently the state of my heart).